Zero
by lostchild277
Summary: No summary yet, sorry, only the omnipresent wish: PLEASE R & R :o)


_DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Net_ – neither the movie nor the TV show – to say nothing of any of its characters. I'm still a poor student so don't sue me – Mr Jim Charleston, Mr L. Costo, Mr Chris Adams as well as Mr Larry Barber and whoever there might be else –  for I have no money to give to u and surely none of my stuff is good to u in any way, lol__

_*AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have to admit that I have only seen about three episodes of the series (and watched the movie two or three times) so I am quite clueless concerning the story. Of course I know who the Praetorians are n stuff but I don't know much bout the friendship / relationship between Angela and Jacob, though I think that it's quite cool that she's older than him (how many years by the way? Can anybody tell me? About five years like the actors? More? Less? Any information's welcome.), happens extremely seldom that the man's younger. However; it's unavoidable that there can be 'mistakes' that will make the close fans scream and curse my ignorance, if anyone's reading the fic at all. If not I will have to share the sad fate of millions of unnoticed authoresses, living in the dark limbo of oblivion, lol*_

Chapter 1

Jacob was sitting in the common room of the university, in front of a DELL PC, one of the elder models though and the slowest one he had ever used. Well, not _ever maybe, but it was long ago since he had to wait such a long time until a computer had at least finished the booting process. That was awful he thought, gaining a quick insight into the lives of those poor people who had to use such insufficient technology everyday. No wonder there were so many of them avoiding any contact with it like the plague. _

_Damn thing! The drumming of his fingers at the table changed into a loud slap, causing the few people around him to raise their heads, obviously disturbed in their actions. _

"Sorry", he mumbled, too unnerved to really mean it. He wished he could make use of the WLAN with his notebook, but unfortunately he had forgotten it at home that morning, which was quite unusual for him. Maybe he was a bit unusual in general. Aw, that was _so lame. Jacob frowned and took a look around the huge room. _

_*Okay, I'm sorry but I have to add the rest later, g2leave now. OMG, no prologue – that's new for me - hope u enjoyed reading nevertheless, lol*_

_*A/N: THANX to the QUEEN OF THE UNIVERSE for her wonderful review!! OMG, I didn't even really start and I thought everybody would be pissed off by just finding them few lines, but then I got ur review and it made me soo happy :o) U even put me on ur fav list? I am really honoured by that.  Sooo thank u :o) Unfortunately I couldn't answer earlier for I been absent from any PCs and I couldn't send u a mail for I cannot open _ur___ homepage. Damn! Gonna continue as soon as possible, 'kay? Thanx for the page link ;o)*_

He never would have thought of going back to his studies one day. Actually he was very interested in everything concerning computer technology but those lessons unnerved him. Most of them were so boring and full of things he had already known when he was five. Okay, maybe not five but in his eyes most of the profs were only interested in getting their students to sleep so they could reel off their stuff and than have a lots of free time for none of them would have any questions to ask since you don't care much about your subject when you are deeply asleep. 

He yawned and hit one of the keys to make his homework complete. Invent something that allowed people to draw up calculations easier. Man, was this a joke? What was Excel for if not for lists, charts and calculations? Jacob sighed quietly and logged out before he stood up. Even that was a joke. With all of those passwords protected accounts trying to give people a feeling of safety. That was bullshit. He knew it better. Jacob appreciated the advantages the world could gain from such highly developed technology but he was also aware of the dangers it contained. And he had to find out very early that there were enough people who tried to benefit from that for the wrong side. The side he wasn't on and never would be. The side that took his father's life when he was a boy. That was after himself for long now. That got him into contact with one of the most intelligent, interesting and beautiful woman he had ever met. The thought of her made him smile. And frown the next moment. As much as Angela Bennett appreciated his knowledge and his abilities and might even _like him – she would never see anything else in him then a friend. The lil bro type label stuck to him like glue, it was unbearable. _

"Your face is much more interesting than a baseball game – changes all of the time." A voice broke into his thoughts. "And some of them are really scary."

"I thought you hate baseball", he replied giving the woman in front of him a smirk, which slowly faded as he combined. "So that means you – hate my face or what? Hey, what's wrong with it? I always thought I'd look incredibly good!" 

A girl beside him sniggered. Jacob turned around and gave her an angry look. "Don't you think so?? Go n take a look at your own mug in the mirror. But better close your eyes then." With that he stood up, grabbed his papers and walked towards the door, slowing down when he had nearly reached the hallway for something in his head told him that he had forgotten something or more; someone. Damn, he was such a loser, no wonder Angela would never see anything else than a little boy in him. Go ahead, Jacob, act a bit more immature and she will suggest going back to the kindergarten or even the playgroup to you.  That day hadn't started good, things were going quite bad at the momentarily and he had without doubt it wouldn't become any better if he didn't start pulling himself together. 

Angela appeared behind him, shoving out of the library. "So what' up?" she asked as they had walked for a while in silence. Since she was smaller than him, she had to look up to look into his eyes and the difference in height made him even more feel like the big idiot he had once more proved he sometimes was. "Instead of going round and destroying young girl's self-confidence you could tell me what went wrong." 

Jacob considered the possibility for a moment, but then shook his head. "It's nothing."

But Angela didn't give up so quickly. "For nothing – u were quite rude to her."

Jacob frowned. "You mean I should better go n say sorry?" He made a move to go back but was held back.

"Are you crazy? She's gonna kill you or worse!"

"Or worse?" he asked confused. "What can be worse?"

"She could make it last long if you know what I mean."

He screw up his nose and then quickened his steps to keep up with her. "So that means you would be sad if something happened to me?"

Angela rolled her eyes and suppressed a laugh.

"So that means you wouldn't be sad? So I don't mean anything to you? Not even a tiny lil bit?"

She sighed and shook her head, before she opened a door and disappeared behind it. By now Jacob was really confused. She was joking. Surely she was joking. She had to. But maybe all of those years of constantly being on the run and losing so many just new found friends had made her immune to any feelings like that. 

The door was fully opened again and Angela stood in front of him the left eyebrow raised. "Do you need an extra invitation or what?"

_*Still not that much I know. I'm not quite sure what this is leading to, but I hope I will find out during the WE ;o)* _


End file.
